JOIN USCharge sheet filed against Teesta Setalvad, two others in case related to 2002 Gujarat riots
Mumbai activist Teesta Setalvad and two former IPS officers- R B Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt- allegedly "conspired to book the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, top bureaucrats and senior leaders of ruling Bhartiya Janata Party in 2002 post-Godhra riot-related offences punishable by death or life imprisonment till death."
Gujarat government's Special Investigation Team (SIT) has made these "revelations" in its charge sheet filed against the accused persons-Setalvad, Sreekumar and Bhatt- in the alleged case of fabricating evidence and tutoring witnesses in 2002 communal rioting cases to seek a conviction.
The charge sheet, which runs into nearly 5000 pages, has stated that "communal riots broke out after the burning of a railway coach at Godhra station on February 27, 2002. After that, accused-1 (Setalvad) and others got in touch with late Ahmed Patel, the office bearer of political party Indian National Congress and also came in contact with other co-accused, held meetings at different places as part of criminal conspiracy."
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The operative part of the charge sheet, a copy of which is with DH, claims, "The arrested accused number-1 conspired with other accused from the year 2002 to book then chief minister, top bureaucrats and top leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party in the communal rioting offences occurred after February 27, 2002 incident, in which many people were killed, and those offences are punishable with the death penalty and life imprisonment till death." It further adds that the "accused persons created fake evidence as part of conspiracy and held meetings and accused no-1 (Setalvad) received Rs30 lakh in the year 2002."
The SIT, headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Deepan Bhadran, posted with the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), has found the petition of Zakia Jafri, the widow of ex-Congress MP Ahsan Jafri who was killed in Gulber Society Massacre case, against then CM Modi and others for their alleged roles as part of the conspiracy by Setalvad. It says that Setalvad and others allegedly fake evidence to book Modi and others for murder, rioting, and criminal conspiracy among others.
SIT has cited over 90 witnesses and a large number of documents suggesting the culpability of the accused persons. Some of the witnesses are Setalvad's estranged employee of Setalvad and currently a member of central Waqf council Rais Khan Pathan, riot victim Qutbuddin Ansari, among others. Most of the witnesses are survivors of major rioting cases in which Setalvad was involved in providing legal aid through her NGO-Citizen for Justice and Peace. The SIT has cited Gujarat Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil as a witness.
The charge sheet has also cited former Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), CBI, and a key member of Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) A K Malhotra as one of the witnesses. Gujarat cadre IPS officer Himanshu Shukla, currently on central deputation, is also a witness. Malhotra and Shukla were part of the SIT which probed, among other cases, Zakia Jafri's complaint against Modi and others and gave clean chit from the riots for want of evidence.
Earlier in June, an FIR was registered with Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch based on a Supreme Court order on Jafri's petition challenging the clean chit given to PM Modi and others. The apex court while rejecting her plea had made several adverse remarks against Setalvad and others, stating that "those who had kept the pot boiling" with an "ulterior motive" for the past 16 years should be in the dock and be "proceeded with in accordance with the law".
While Setalvad came out of Sabarmati Central Jail on an interim bail order granted by the Supreme Court, Sreekumar and Bhatt are behind the bars. The regular bail petitions of Setalvad and Sreekumar are likely to be heard on September 28.